Investors Buy High Volume of Salesforce Call Options (NYSE:CRM)

Key Points

• Salesforce Inc. experienced a significant surge in call options trading, with investors purchasing 103,597 call options, marking a 52% increase from the average volume.
• Insider trading revealed that Director David Blair Kirk increased his ownership by 801.89% with the purchase of 3,400 shares, while CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares.
• The company reported $2.91 EPS for the last quarter, beating estimates, with revenue of $10.24 billion representing a 9.8% year-over-year increase.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 103,597 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 52% compared to the average volume of 68,097 call options.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 3,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $254.66 per share, for a total transaction of $865,844.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 3,824 shares in the company, valued at $973,819.84. The trade was a 801.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.44, for a total transaction of $545,490.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,887,841,273.24. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 78,750 shares of company stock worth $19,448,213 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,823,481 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $24,221,275,000 after buying an additional 909,853 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,260,918 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $13,452,998,000 after buying an additional 776,300 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 0.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,873,900 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $5,669,224,000 after buying an additional 114,504 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Salesforce during the second quarter worth approximately $2,826,049,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 6.9% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,258,518 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,484,616,000 after buying an additional 600,386 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $265.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $260.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Macquarie restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $370.00 to $315.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Twenty-five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $325.23.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $263.51 on Wednesday. Salesforce has a 12 month low of $226.48 and a 12 month high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $250.86 billion, a PE ratio of 38.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.19. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $245.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $257.92.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.13. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.87% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The business had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.330-11.370 EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at 2.840-2.860 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 17th were issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 17th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.13%.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, Inc provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology that brings companies and customers together worldwide. The company's service includes sales to store data, monitor leads and progress, forecast opportunities, gain insights through analytics and artificial intelligence, and deliver quotes, contracts, and invoices; and service that enables companies to deliver trusted and highly personalized customer support at scale.

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